


You Turn My World Upside Down

by hey_its_smoore



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Karen is a bitch, M/M, Mutual Pining, Shit goes down, Suicide Attempt, Summer before Senior year, The Upside Down, making movies, mike is depressed a bit, murrary is a government agent, steve is their teacher/friend
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-22 05:09:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19660477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hey_its_smoore/pseuds/hey_its_smoore
Summary: This started out as an original story I wrote, but I changed it to be a fanfiction! The party lives in Hawkins, New Hampshire and loves to make movies with their teacher and friend, Steve Harrington. Mike is in love with El and doesn't know if she feels the same. Their life is normal. Fun. That all changes when Steve goes missing on a hike, and they stumble into a world much different than their own. The Upside Down.





	1. the government has a few questions....

**Author's Note:**

> I did watch S3 and am mentally dying, but this has no spoilers and only a few minor references to season 3, for now. AGAIN, MINOR SPOILERS!!!!

“ Just stand there.” I walk over to the wall with the height chart on it. 

“Try not to move unless I say, ok?” She takes my picture. (Well, mugshot, but whatever.)  
The technician reads over my information with me. I can hear how done she is in her voice. I don’t blame her. She’s probably been at this for hours. And it’s friday. I think. 

“ Michael Thomas Wheeler six foot three inches, one hundred and eight fivepounds, seventeen years old. Thin build, black bowlish hair, brown eyes, freckles covering his face. Lives in Hawkins, New Hampshire. Involved in AV club, theater club, swim team, all honors classes, including 5 AP. Geeze kid, do you ever sleep?” 

I happily respond, “ Nope.”

“ Here, drink this.” I take it like a shot, and give the world a ‘peace out homie!’ for a few hours. I jolt awake and rub my eyes. The room that I’m in, in one word, was cold. ( like my soul). I sat in a metal chair, chained to a metal desk, surrounded by metal walls. As I said, cold. 

In front of me was a mirror, but I’ve seen enough movies to know it was one way glass.  
I smiled at whoever was behind it to let them know I’m not stupid. Well, I’m a 17 year old boy, so I’m stupid, but I’m not that type of stupid.( I don’t think they even care. Anyways, next to the ‘mirror’ was a door, with at least 10 locks on it. This room was for maximum threats only. I guess that includes me. But, as I said, I’m a 17 year old boy. I’m not some superpowered freak or a terrorist or anything. I haven’t done anything wrong, but what I did might have been illegal. Not entirely sure yet, but I know there’s a difference. What I did isn’t technically possible, but that’s a story for later. A man in a ratty suit came in with a clipboard and a cup of coffee. He sat in the chair across from me, facing the ‘mirror.’ I guess whoever is behind there doesn’t need to see his face. The man is definitely NOT fit for combat and could be taken down in a flash with his 6’ 250 something body, but then again, I’m pretty weak. He flips through his clipboard of papers, and clicks a pen. 

“So, Mike. why do I find a seventeen year old tech nerd in custody of the FBI right now?” His voice is husky. He’s on some Mr. Bond shit. ( is that a drug??) That’s what I’ll call him.

“ I don’t know Mr. Bond, you tell me?” He’s not fond of the name.

“ Call me Murrary. You’ve been through an experience that we, as in the united nations, have to deny exists. I need you to tell me the story.” ( OOOoOooOoOoOO) 

“ What’s the experience?”

“ You know Mr. Wheeler.”

“ I want to hear you say it.”  
“ You’ve found a way to enter a super secret government alternate dimension experimentation portal, G.A.D.E.P for short.”

“ Alternate dimension? We called it the upside down. But, I know, cool right?”

“ No, not cool. You’ve fucked things up. Big time.”

“ Woah! Didn’t know government agents were allowed to swear!” ( #rebel) 

“ Who says I’m government!?! Mr. Wheeler, unless you ever want to see your girlfriend and weird frie-”

“ She’s not my girlfriend. And my friends aren’t weird.” El isn’t my girlfriend. We aren't official yet. And while my friends may be weird to most, they got us out of that fucking mess known as the upside down. Well, not the whole mess. It’s not over yet.

“ You’re shitting me.”

“ Jeez, you’ve got a potty mouth Mr. Murray.”

“ So you and little miss Ellie haven’t done anything? If there was a girl like that when I was in high school I’d be all over that!” 

“ I just said she isn’t my girlfriend.”

“ Ohhhhh. I see. So y’all get nasty? You know, like- ” He mimics slapping a girl’s ass. Mr. Murrary is disgusting. ( no shit sherlock) 

“ ALRIGHT! I’ll talk, jesus. You should be illegal.”

“ Told you it would work Alexei” He just said it out loud, obviously addressing someone behind the ‘mirror’. 

“ What do you want me to tell you? There’s not much to explain.”

“ Not much to explain? NOT MUCH TO EXPLAIN?!? You found a secret portal, another dimension, and you want to treat it like some, some kindergarten math problem?”

“ We were hiking,” I put up two fingers and walked across my palm. “ And I found the portal!” I made fireworks with my hands. Being sarcastic is a skill developed over many years. My sarcasm is like a rare, fine wine.

“ I could just as easily get some truth serum.” He started to get up.

“ No! No. You know what happened.” He sat back down.

“ We don’t know what happened in ‘there’. We only know what happened when you got out. And what you brought with you. You caused quite a scene. We had to relocate the entire town during our investigation.”

“ I’m sure they didn’t go without a fight.”

“ Some minor drugs were involved.”

“ Now I don’t know what I did is illegal, but that definitely is.”

“ Nothing’s illegal. They’re the FBI. You know, big brother?” 

“ I know. Me and the FBI man in my laptop are TIGHT.” ( homies over here) 

“ Ok kid, we’ve had some fun. But now it’s time to cut the crap. I need a full description of what happened, since the start. Spare NO detail. My boss wants a full report. ”  
“  
Fine, but you’re going to regret saying that.” ( why are you so vague like this ugh)  
………………………………………………………………………………  
“ Fuck you too Josh!” El slaps me across the cheek. It stings. 

“ Cut! That was amazing El! The camera really captured your emotion!” Will yells out and starts to watch the footage. Will Byers is my best friend. He’s short for a junior, around 5’5, with blonde hair and blue eyes. If he was a little taller, and if he liked girls, the ladies would be all over him. He’s pretty cute. He’s also crazy smart. He moved here about a year ago, with his mom and brother Jonathan. I met him on his first day, at the beginning of this year. El showed him around. I made friends with him to impress her, but turns out, he’s an awesome dude. He signed up for AV club too, due to my recommendation. And in AV club, you get to know each other pretty well. There’s six of us, but we do get a lot of floaters for acting pieces throughout the year.  
One of the other main members of our group was El. How can I describe Eleanor Anne Hopper without sounding like an insane pervert? I’ll be as vague as possible, though it’s going to be hard. Kathy is this amazing, sweet, all american girl. She’s got caramel brown hair, about chin length, gorgeously olive skin all year, and deep hazel eyes. But she’s not all looks. She’s an incredibly talented actress, singer, student, and everything in between. Her personality knows no bounds. Even with her insane schedule, she helps to mentor kids in math AND do a teacher internship during school hours. I can’t wait to marry her. I know, marry is a strong word, but I have total faith I’m going to. She got me to join theater club and teacher internship just to see her more. I’m a sucker for her. I can’t shake my love. I also can’t gain the courage to talk to her about said love.  
“Mike, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to slap you that hard, I just got caught in the moment and thinking about Dan an-” I cut her off there. I hate her ex. 

“El, it’s totally fine. I’m sure it looked amazing on camera and it didn’t even hurt that much.” I was lying. It still stung. Then El leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.

Welp. There goes Mike. I was gone. I’m whipped.  
……………………………………………………………………………………  
“ I thought you said you had done stuff? You and El?” Murray interrupts me.  
“ Not yet! Shut up!”  
……………………………………………………………………….  
Will saw this all go down and cut us off before it got awkward. Or, in other words, before I made it awkward.  
“ We should probably get set up for the next scene, you know, before Steve gets back. He’ll want to see it.” He starts to set up the wheeled tripod so we can film the moving shot. It’s around 5pm, but we all don’t mind staying late. Most of us are in other clubs too, and have crappy home lives. Including me. Just me.  
Dustin and Lucas walk in, with Max in tow. Dustin Henderson and Lucas Sinclair are also in the AV club, and between them and the three of us, we are the AV club. Which I’m fine with. The smaller the better. Lucas is one of the only african american kids in Hawkins, and he hates it. He’s about 6’ with short kinky hair and don't give a fuck attitute. Dustin is almost the complete opposite. He’s about 5’7, curly hair, pale as hell, and cares too much about everything. Max Mayfield, Lucas’s girlfriend, is somewhere in between the two. She can be super standoffish, but she’s truly super sweet and sarcastic. She’s really pretty too, with green eyes red hair, and freckles, but not as pretty as El. Pretty doesn’t even describe El. She’s….. never mind.  
“ What’s up losers!” Lucas yells as he enters the room with his usual outgoing-only-in-AV club personality. 

“ Dustin! How was California!” Will yells and gives him a huge hug. Dustin just got back from a California trip to visit his dad a few days ago. 

“ Super fun. I got to see Suzie on the way back too!” Suzie is his mormon girlfriend in Utah who’s just as nerdy as us. She’s trying to plan a visit soon. 

“Max, did you see Steve? We need to shoot the scene soon. Sunset is coming up.” El chimes in. “ It’s great to see you Dustin.” El gives Dustin a hug and I do our secret handshake with him.  
“  
I saw Harrington making some copies. I’m sure he’s on his way. El, bathroom trip NOW.” She pulls El away from Dustin to go gossip in the bathroom. Lucas gives me a look that says ‘ you don’t wanna know.”  
I guess I should describe Steve. Steve Harrington, or our history teacher, is literally one of the only reasonable adults in Hawkins Our small little town nestled in the mountains is filled with old republicans who wants to go back to when ‘men were men and women were women’. It’s complete torture. Steve was super popular in high school, and super douchey. But that all changed when he met Robin, his best friend. Now, he’s our super cool teacher/best friend with luscious locks. He’s the supervisor of AV club, but really, he’s just another member. He insits we call him Steve after school, and it’s hard to switch over during class. He loves to take part in our projects and try to get them to the right people. He encourages us to no end. He’s our therapist, friend, and teacher and everything else. I wouldn’t be here without him.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………..  
About two years ago, things got rough at home. My mom left, with my little sister Holly, and left me at home with my dad. She said she couldn’t take me, that it would be too complicated. That I was too complicated. I was left with my dad. He had just gotten fired from his wall street cushy job because of a drinking problem. The problem only got worse at home. I stopped going to school. I couldn’t risk having anyone see the bruises. I didn’t want to leave El. She kept trying to text me, but my dad threw my phone out the window. But I couldn’t deal with him.I took a walk to get out of the house after he just wailed on me, to try and figure out how to stay, but how to get away from my dad. I ended up at the highway, not remembering how. It was late at night on a Friday, and cars were whizzing by below the bridge to get to the lake region. I sat on the ledge, my feet dangling between life and death. A car pulled over next to me, and Steve got out.  
“ Hey sir? Sir you ok? Holy fuck. Mike?”

I looked up. His face was scared. 

“ Hey Steve.” My voice sounds shaky.

“ What the hell are you doing?”

“ Just sitting.” Steve inched closer every second. 

“ Why are you sitting here?” I could hear the panic in his voice.

“ I can’t do it anymore. It’s all too much. It’s-” He cuts me off, wrapping himself around me just as I was about to slip trying to turn around .I started to cry. He leaned up against the concrete, and just held me. I don’t remember how long. He let me stay with him and Robin for a few days, and he even talked to my dad for me. After about two weeks, I realized he saved my life.  
………………………………………………………………………………………….  
Steve walks in saying, “ What’s up kiddos!” with a big smile on his face. He’s very happy. Today was the last day of school. 

“Harrington! It’s time to shoot the sunset scene my dude. I’ll get the costumes.” Lucas opens our cabinet, shuffles some stuff, and swears. 

“ Fuck!” 

“ What is it?” I say, walking over to him.

“ We don’t have the final costumes. It’s too late to go down to the costume shop, and no one has a key. “

“ I do.” El chimes in, back from the bathroom. “ Will, didn’t Joyce give you her keys last night, for today? She left her coffee mug in there yesterday and asked one of us to get it. was gonna get it after we had finished shooting, but I can go now!” She’s so cute when she figures something out. Also, her and Will are almost step siblings. El’s dad is dating Will’s mom. They make a good brother and sister duo. 

“Mike, El, why don’t you guys run down there and get ready, and meet us in the back field.” Steve said as he winked at me. I’ve had so many long discussions with him about El. He knows that I’m in deep.

“ Great idea!” El smiled and went to grab her backpack. I grabbed mine, waved to the party, and we walked out.

I tried to walk as slow as possible, savoring these moments with her..The hallways were dark, since no one was her, but the light from the windows in the classroom gave it an almost heavenly glow. This light made El look incredible. Even the rotting walls looked ok. El was the first one to break the silence.

“ Did you know all the girls have a bet on who’s going to get you this summer?” 

“ What do you mean?

“ Like who’s going to do you first. Ever since you decided to swim…. And become a height god… well you’ve been getting attention. And your cherry is apparently begging to be popped.” This was going to be a weird conversation.“ Who’s in it?”

“ All the regular popular girls.” I guess since I’ve actually taken care of myself, I’m attractive. ( wow humble much) Not to the one that matters though.  
……………………………………………………………….  
“ Hold up. You got girls fawning over you, and you choose to just ignore them? For El? Are you dumb?” Murrary chimes in.

“ Just stop the roasts, please.” I continue my story.  
…………………………………………………………………………...  
“A few would surprise you though. Like Jennifer Hayes.”

I laugh. Then here it comes. “ You in on it?” She looks at me like I have three heads.

“ I mean, do you have any guesses?” Good save.

“ A few. But I have too much power. I can’t jeopardize the bet. That’d be breaking too many rules. Max is in charge of the whole thing. She makes the rules.” 

The rest of the walk, we just talk about next year. We’re going to be seniors! I mostly just listen to her. She has her whole life planned out, and boy, are her plans big. She wants to go to college to get a degree in teaching math. She also wants to go to a school with no theater department, and make it the best. She’s…. Sensational. 

When we reach the door, She fumbles with the keys. She’s shaking.

“ Hey El, you ok?”

“ Umm, I’ll be fine. Just nervous about..umm..the kiss, is all. ” Holy shit. I forgot about the kiss. I’m going to kiss El in, what, five minutes? Holy fuck is more like it. And El is nervous? Can’t tell if that’s good or bad. 

As soon as we walk in, El grabs her dress off the rack, and hands me my suit. She walks into the changing stall. I walk into the other. Wordlessly. 

The scene we’re shooting today is the heaven scene. We’re filming a modern day Romeo/Juliet type deal, but a shit ton, no, fuck ton darker. We have the two main characters, Josh, who I play, and Alice, played by El, kill themselves for different reasons at the same time. Steve convinced everyone to have me and Kathy play the lead. He even told Dustin he should write in a kiss. I love the man. Anyways, they end up in heaven together, and that’s what we’re filming today. I know, insanely darkI’m wearing a full tux, with a bow tie and all. I open the door while finishing my collar as El y walks out. 

She’s wearing a white sundress, with flowy, long sleeves and a long train in the back, so we can have it flow in the wind. She takes her hair from her braid, now curled, and puts on the flower crown that was on the table.

“ Do I look ok?” 

Ok was an understatement. I couldn’t even form words with my mouth. 

“ Yea, um, you look, um pretty, like really pretty, um, like, um-”  
El blushes and walks out of the room, leaving me speechless. She takes the door from the shop that leads through the parking lot, to the back field. Our school Hawkins High has a great view of the mountains, but then again, our whole town does. The sun is already starting to set, so we have to work fast. I run after El, whose already reached the field, and getting notes from Steve on the shot. Once I get there, Will’s all set up, and Lucas is helping him adjust the camera ever so slightly. Max is arguing with Dustin on where to put the bounce light. Just another normal day in Hawkins.  
I walk over to Steve and El, listening while he gives her notes. 

“ El, just trust me. As soon as you make your move, he’s gonna practically propose to you.” 

“Let’s hope. Also I’m real sorry for making this awkward.”

I decide to chime in here. “ What about awkward?” El laughs and walks over to Will to get more notes. If anything, she’s committed. I watch her go and smile.

“ What are you grinning about, dopey?” Steve hits me with his shoulder. 

“ What do you think?” I asked him, sarcasm most present.“ Hmmm, I don’t know. El?” 

“ No shit sherlock. Who was she just talking about now?” A hint of jealousy was in my voice. 

“ None of your business. Now go, it’s time for your first kiss.”

He laughed and nudged me forward. I walked to Will, Lucas, and El, who were discussing the best angle to start filming. It was decided I would be waiting in the distance, sun setting on the mountains, and El would run towards me, camera following her. Then we’d kiss. I was so excited. It’s my first.

“Ok, the sun is setting really fast, and the clouds are moving even faster. We really only have one take, or we gotta wait til tomorrow. You ready Mike?” Will looked at me as I nodded and walked ahead. I didn’t want to take a chance on jogging and getting all sweaty. I looked back at Steve and gave him a thumbs up. Lucas, Max, and Dustin stood back with Steve, watching us from afar. Will had to run for this shot, and they didn’t want to run with him. El waited for Dustin to clip the marker and yell action. Once he did, she began to run. I knew I was supposed to look kind of serious, but with her smile and her dress flowing in the wind, I couldn’t. It was like our wedding. I wished it was our wedding. All of our close friends, with the sun setting and the mountains glowing, it couldn’t be better. When she reached me, she grabbed my hands and looked up. Will was lagging behind a bit, so we had to stay like that. We would edit the rest in post. I didn’t mind. Staring into her eyes was the best feeling in the world. Her eyes changed color based on what she was wearing, sometimes blue-green, sometimes brown. But today, with the light and everything, they looked golden. 

Will caught up to us, and I kissed her. I had no idea if I was supposed to wait, or if should have given her a signal, but I couldn’t wait any longer. She was perfect.


	2. the aftermath of a kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> cute mileven and a lil cliffhanger
> 
> still haven't recovered from s3 :) 
> 
> NO SPOILERS :)

I don’t know how long we kissed, but it must have been awhile. Will yelled cut, and the gang in the back clapped while they walked towards us. I hoped I wasn’t too red.

El hugged Will, Dustin, Lucas, Max and Steve. I did the same. We were all ecstatic. We finally finished the movie! None of us even liked it at this point, but boy, am I so glad we finished. 

“ Do you crazy kids have any plans tonight?” Steve spoke up. It finally hit us that it was the last day of school, and the first day of summer. Of course, we’re still going to come in to school a couple times a week to work on our new project. We were going to remake The Flight of the Navigator, but make the kids high school age. And add drama, of course. We were known for doing that. 

“ I don’t think so. Do you guys want to go down to the lake or something?” Will said, and we all nodded in agreement. We spent most of our days during the summer at the lake. 

“ Well, I think I’m going to go home. Remember, I’m going hiking in the morning to get some scenic shots, but I’ll be back around one and I’ll send one of you what I got so you can edit it in. Have fun tonight!” He waved goodbye and walked back into the school to get his bag. Max carried the bounce, Dustin the wedding arch, and Lucas and Will wheeled in the camera. El and I were alone.

“ We should get changed out of our costumes.” I said, starting to walk. The sun was setting fast, and it was almost dinnertime for the bears. It’s a real problem here. 

El ran to catch up with me, and grabbed my hand, pulling me towards her. I yanked her towards me instead, and she jumped up on my back, something we’d done hundreds of times.

She yelled in delight as I ran us into the costume shop. I set her down and went to get changed. I closed the curtain in the stall, and got undressed. I was just starting to pull up my pants when

El walked in.  
……………………………………………………………………………………………………  
“ Well damn! You didn’t tell me this was gonna be some rated R shit! I gotta get paperwork, talk to my boss, an-” Murrary interjects.

“ It’s not! Not yet.”

“Ooooooo, not yet the nerd says.” 

“Shut up.”

“Watch yourself Wheeler”  
…………………………………………………………………………………..  
“ Shit Mike I didn’t know you were in here I’m sorry I’ll-” She has her eyes tightly shut. I don’t know why, we’ve all gone skinny dipping before. But I’ve hit puberty now. And, I’m not on the Swim team for no reason. She walks out without saying anything else. But I could have sworn she opened her eyes for a second.   
………………………………………………………………..  
“ Alright, you, the nerd, has a girl, who likes you,in a closed space with you, while you were naked, and you didn’t do shit?” Murrary again. 

“ I swear to god. We didn’t do shit YET”

“ Alright fine fine.”  
………………………………………………………………………………  
Once we both get dressed and hang our costumes back where we found them, I walk out and El locks up, Joyce’s mug in hand.On the way back, we don’t talk. We’re both embarrassed. I don’t know what to say. Walking back into the classroom, Dustin and Will are packing up their stuff. I’m sure Lucas and Max drove off somewhere, so now Dustin’s stuck without a ride.

Anyways, we clean up where we were shooting and rearrange the desks. I’m the last one to leave, so I shut off the lights and lock the door. The boys are already out of sight, but El stands by the door. She looks up from her phone and smiles.

“ Ready to go?” She asks, cheerfully.I nod. We walk slowly, slower than normal. I try and break the prolonged silence. 

“So…….. what do you want to do tomorrow?” 

“ Oh I don’t know. I’ll probably sleep in, eat, and end up going back to my bed. You’re welcome to join. I’m planning finally watch stranger things.” 

“ Finally. It feels like forever. I’ll never pass up an opportunity to do some good binge watching. What time?”

“ I don’t know.. How about…..eleven? That way we can make some snacks before we get down to business.”   
“ Sounds good.”

We walk the rest of the way in silence. There’s a really nice glow coming from the windows of the school right now, and it makes the place feel less eerie. It’s crazy to think that I’m actually a senior in high school. I’m going to college next year. Where? Somewhere to study screenplay I guess. It probably won’t end up working out, but I can at least get some type of degree and teach science or a film class. I’m going to try to go where El goes, but if I get a swim scholarship, that’s where I’m at. 

When we finally get to the parking lot, the boys are loading up Will’s car with the equipment. Will gets in the driver’s seat with Dustin in the passenger, and drives away.   
Suddenly I realize. Max took her car with Lucas.

El’s without a ride.

“ Hey, can you drop me off? At Hopper’s. Joyce working late so Hop’s home tonight. She asks. 

“ Yeah, totally.” 

She gets in the passenger seat, and I climb in the car and prepare for, what I hope, is the longest car ride ever. El diggs out her phone cord and plugs into the aux.

“ Can I play some music?” She doesn’t wait for a response, and just picks a song. It’s Drive It Like You Stole It from Sing Street.

I drive, and we both sing along with the song. The mountains look incredible with the sun setting on them. The river is glistening, the trees are bright, and the whole town looks happy. This is my favorite time of year. The town center is packed with people shopping, getting dinner, and getting ice cream. While the population of Hawkinsl is really small, the tourist revenue is INSANE. And since summer is just starting, this isn’t even the peak of the year. During February vacation, I usually don’t leave the house. It gets that bad.

After what feels like three seconds, I pull into El’s driveway. She unplugs her phone, gathers her stuff, but waits before she gets out.

“Mike?”

“ Yeah El?”

“ Can you pick me up early tonight? I thought we could get to the lake early and talk.”

Talk? What the fuck did that mean? 

“ Yeah totally. How’s 8:45?” We usually get to the lake around 9, and are back in bed by 12.

“ I was thinking a little earlier. How’s 8?”

“ Do-able.”

She smiles at me, walks to her door, unlocks it, and gives me a wave. I back out and drive back to my house.

Why does El want to ‘talk’? I try to think of the things I did wrong that day, but I can’t find much that involve El. Maybe the dressing room incident? But that wasn’t my fault, and she apologized a billion times. Huh. Time will tell.

I pull into my driveway and lock my car. Walking in my house, I see that no one’s home. Shocker. My dad works insane hours ever since he got a job after, well, his issues. He’s been clean for about a year and a half, and I’m insanely proud of him. But he’s still hurt. My sister Nancy visits when she can, but she’s always busy at work. My mom and Holly aren’t coming back. Whenever I call, she talks to me for about two minutes, comes up with an excuse, and ends it. I’m almost over her. Almost.

I don’t understand how a mother can just forget about her child. Just carry them for 9 months, and then say “ sianara!” It’s sick. 

I open the fridge and find it almost empty. Ugh. I don’t know when I’m gonna get the chance to go grocery shopping anytime soon. Between working at summer camps, A.V club, and trying to be a teenager, summers can get tough. I’m trying though!

I settle on some graham crackers and check the time. 

It’s 7:45. 

Why did El want to talk this early?

I run into my room and rip off my pants, replacing them with my bathing suit shorts. I decided to wear a tank top, celebrating the fact that it’s summer. Yay! …………………………………………………………………………….  
“ We get it. You swim. You’re ripped. Girls are swooning over you. Keep going.” Murrary cuts me off.

“ You said you wanted the whole story, this is a truly integral part of it. Without it, the plot just falls apart, exposition is gone, we’ll lose the rising action, leading up to-” 

“We get it. Just keep talking loser”   
……………………………………………………………………………..  
I grab my keys and decide to stop at dunkin’s to get a coffee. Starting the car, I plug my phone in and play my ‘ I want to get laid super bad’ playlist. GUMMY by BROCKHAMPTON starts. 

I’m feeling the song and driving along and pull up to the drive through. Ordering myself and El large iced coffees ( caramel swirl with skim and splenda don’t fuck it up). The song changes to See You Again by Tyler, the Creator. And then I pull up to El’s. El. She gets out and she’s glowing. 

Glowing. 

Her hair is flowing, she’s wearing a white dress with a black bikini underneath. She gets in and smiles. 

‘Long time no see!” Got you a coffee!” She gasps as I hand it to her and she takes a sip.

“ Just what I needed for a late night.” (Late night?)

“ Oh, you have big plans do you?” I say, and she looks back up at me. 

“ Maybeeeee.” By this point, I’m having an absolute break down. 

This is when Hopper walks out. Hopper is the chief of police here, and absolutely frightening. He’s always afraid that I’m corrupting El, and that we’re constantly making out. I wish. He makes us keep the door open three inches, even when we’re just doing homework. I get it, he’s protective. But he’s out to kill me. I feel it.

“ Hey! El! Be back by 12! And Wheeler! Don’t try anything!” He yells, staring me down.

“ Got it dad! Bye!” She waves, as I start to back up. I want to be out of here, now.   
We start to drive towards the lake, Kathy controlling the music. Suddenly, I hear the starting beats of a song. Our song


End file.
